Fishermen at Sea《海上渔夫》

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Mallord William Turner （1775–1851）， possibly the most widely admired and influential British artist of all time. He is well-known for his expressive colorizations， innovative landscapes， and stormy， sometimes violent maritime paintings. More than 550 oil paintings， 2，000 watercolors， and 30，000 works on paper were left behind by him.

2025年是约瑟夫·马洛德·威廉·透纳（1775—1851）诞辰250周年。他可能是有史以来最广受推崇和最具影响力的英国画家，以其极富表现力的用色、创新的风景画和波涛汹涌乃至有时狂风暴雨的海景画而闻名。他一生创作了550多幅油画、2000多幅水彩画及其他3万多幅纸上作品。

Turner attended the Royal Academy of Art at the age of 14 in 1789. Turner was 15 when his first watercolor， A View of the Archbishop’s Palace， Lambeth， was approved for the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1790.

1789年，14岁的透纳进入英国皇家美术学院学习。透纳15岁时，他的第一幅水彩画《兰贝斯大主教宫殿的景色》获准在皇家美院1790年的夏季作品展中展出。

Turner’s first oil painting for the school， Fishermen at Sea， was a nighttime moonlight picture of the Needles off the Isle of Wight， an image of boats in danger， completed in 1796. Turner’s reputation as an oil painter of sea settings was established with this painting， which was lauded by contemporary reviewers.

透纳在美院年展上展出的第一幅油画《海上渔夫》完成于1796年，描绘了某个月夜怀特岛附近尼德尔斯礁石群的景色，画中有数艘处于险境的小船。这幅画受到同时代评论家的赞誉，也确立了透纳作为海景油画家的声誉。

It contrasts the fragility of human existence， symbolized by the little boat with its flickering lantern， with nature’s immense strength， depicted by the dark overcast sky， broad sea， and frightening cliffs in the backdrop. The Moon’s frigid light at night contrasts with the warmer glow of the fishermen’s lantern.

画面上，人类的脆弱存在与大自然的强大力量形成了对比——前者以小船和摇曳的提灯为象征，后者以阴云密布的天空、辽阔的大海和背景中令人生畏的悬崖呈现。夜月的寒光与渔灯的暖光也形成了对比。

Turner’s unique approach paved the way for a new form of landscape art， one that combined virtuoso brushwork with brilliant color， dazzling light effects， and an almost abstract sensibility. As a result， Turner came to be recognized as the most innovative painter of his time and has continued to be so ever since.

透纳独特的绘画手法为创作新型风景画铺平了道路。这种风景画结合了精湛的画技与鲜亮的色彩、炫目的光效和近乎抽象的感性。由此，透纳逐渐成为他那个时代公认的最具创新精神的画家，时至今日依然如此。

Turner’s works are akin to painted poems， filled with incident， anecdote， and symbolism. Conveying both the beauty and cruelty of nature and human life， they shed fascinating light on the artist’s world and reveal an aesthetic—and moral—complexity that is at once discomforting and strangely modern.

透纳的作品堪称一幅幅诗画，诗篇中充满了事件、传闻和象征主义。这些画既展示了大自然和人类生活的美好，也传递出它们残酷的一面，为世人了解透纳的世界提供了颇具吸引力的信息，同时揭示了美学——和道德——的复杂性，这种复杂性既令人不安又莫名现代。